Bristlecone Pine Bryce

Seniority

While visiting Bryce Canyon National Park in September of 2012, I walked along the Rim Trail edge of the amphitheater canyon some 800 feet above the canyon floor. It is said about the air quality in Utah and especially at Bryce Canyon that on a good day it is very easy to see as far as 120 miles in all directions, some days even further. On the day I walked the Rim, the view was very clear. While looking toward the southeast from Yovimpa Point, the south rim of the Grand Canyon was clearly visible though quite off in the distance. It is located 150 miles from Bryce Canyon. However, keep in mind the elevation where I was standing was some 9100 feet above sea level. The long distance views from the Rim of the amphitheater are like looking afar off over the curvature of the earth. The air was brisk on that September day yet pleasant.

Great Basin Bristlecone Pine trees such as the one in this photo have stood here a very very long time. The park estimates this tree to be over 250 years old. Trees at this elevation do not grow fast, but they grow strong and hardy. Also known as foxtail pines, these hardy specimens definitely have seniority on our planet and have been known to out live every living thing on earth. Clonal colony trees such as quaking aspens have been known to live longer but for a single tree, the Bristlecone pine is the longest living single tree species. The oldest known Bristlecone Pine tree, affectionately known as Methuselah is estimated to have germinated in 2832 BC, some 100 years before the first Egyptian pyramid was ever built.

See a link to the Methuselah tree (and this may be the tree): http://www.wired.com/2010/03/old-tree-gallery/2/

Located in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest high in the White Mountains of eastern California at an elevation of about 9500 feet Methuselah is estimated to be some 4800 years old. This Forest of Ancients area is covered in snow eight months out of the year with sub freezing temperatures. The soil is terrible yet they survive. This had been the oldest living tree until another foxtail pine was discovered in 2013 that may possibly date to over 5100 years old. There are many of these trees in that forest and the exact location of the oldest trees are kept a secret by the U.S. Forest service in order to protect the trees from vandals. Biblical Methuselah was the son of Enoch and the grandfather to Noah. He lived to the age of 969. Methuselah, the man, died shortly before the Great Flood.